Proposals panned
CST, cableway ‘don’t stack up’
MAYORAL candidate Mona Hecke is not supporting a proposed cableway in the Gold Coast Hinterland, raising safety concerns about gondolas riding above “dry scrub” to Springbrook.
During question time after an address to the Mudgeeraba Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Ms Hecke also confirmed her opposition to Mayor Tom Tate’s pet project – an offshore cruise ship terminal at Philip Park on The Spit.
Bob Janssen, a former president of the Combined Chamber of Commerce who was involved in a CST consortium, asked Ms Hecke about her support for major tourism projects.
“Firstly, the cruise ship terminal environmentally hasn’t stacked up, and the feasibility studies reflect that. Secondly, there has been massive investment in a cruise ship terminal in Brisbane,” she said.
“What we need to do is to facilitate better tourism numbers to the Gold Coast and work with our Brisbane partners to bring those people to the Gold Coast.
“So I would like to see a better collaboration and communication with Brisbane so we can fast-track overnight stays, or two- to three-night stays on the Gold Coast.”
Ms Hecke said she had the same opinion of a cableway, for which Cr Tate in January gained backing from councillors to spend $1 million on a feasibility study to determine whether Springbrook or Tamborine Mountain would be the best location.
“With regard to Hinterland tourism and a cableway, the feasibility studies have shown that doesn’t stack up,” Ms Hecke said.
“I’ve been on the cableway in Kuranda in Cairns and I tell you, it’s breathtaking, it’s beautiful. But it is a wet rainforest. Our hinterland here is dry scrub.
“For a cableway to stack up here I’d like to see a proponent put their money on the table. I don’t think it’s council responsibility to be paying for feasibility studies.”
Opponents of a Springbrook proposal in 2000 raised fire safety concerns, predicting the route would be through eucalypt forest and posing a hazard for cableway passengers.
“From a safety perspective, the feasibility studies have shown that dry scrub would not be a feasible place to put a cableway because too much land would have to be cleared,” Ms Hecke said.
“And then you’d literally be in a cableway looking at flat scrub. What sort of view would that be? What sort of experience would that be for visitors?”
But Division 9 candidate Mary-Anne Hossack, in brochure handed out to chamber members, announced her support for a cableway. Cr Glenn Tozer said councillors had resolved to undertake a study into advancing a cableway, supporting collecting information on the feasibility of the project.